Category Archives: Health

Two words that pretty much sum up every bad event in live. At least it does if you are on the other side of the event or one of those glass half full people. Me, I know how to look at a glass. Here’s a tip next time someone pulls that line on you. What was the previous state of the glass when it reached the halfway point? Was it in the act of filling or empting? If filling then half full, if empting half empty. Pretty simple right?

Now let’s get back to shit, because it does happen, a lot, as Forest just told us. If you’ve followed my previous attempts at challenges you know that shit happened on more than one occasion. Broken toe, broken foot, shin splints and most recently pulmonary emboli.

I never disclosed via this blog but back in August I was diagnosed with pulmonary emboli. If you are up on your Latin, you noticed that was plural meaning more than one. Specifically both lungs. This meant a 5 day stay in the hospital and a cease and desist on most of my exercise related activities. In a nutshell, I was devastated. From what the doctor told me, if I wasn’t in such good shape (i.e. a runner) it would’ve been much much worse.

I noticed a decline shortly after I completed the Broad Street Run. Suddenly it became more difficult to run. I thought it was just the summer air influencing my asthma so I thought I would just soldier through it. By mid July I went from running miles without stopping to running only a 1/8th of a mile and being short of breath and in pain which would quickly go away within a few minutes.

Come August, I was literally bend over in pain 10 minutes into a run. My running partner had been telling me for weeks I should see a doctor and seeing how I was bent over I finally agreed. I went to the doctor the very next day and described my symptoms; sudden shortness of breath when climbing stairs, drastic reduction in my mileage and pain in my chest. An EKG later and I was ordered to go to the emergency room.

From there I had a few tests to determine what exactly was going on. At this point I had no diagnosis but the fear was that it was a heart issue. At about 10:30 PM that evening I received my proper diagnosis and started treatment.

Now I’m nearing the end of my treatment and starting to put the pieces back together. I’ve been running since September but not as much as I was before. Now it’s time to ramp up. This year I’ve decided that I won’t create challenges like I’ve done in the past. I’m going to rebuild, restructure and get rid of the impurities. I’m forging a new iron will. As always it’s going to be an uphill battle and I’m up for it.